Agencies
Police officials and teachers raised issues concerning problems they faced in investigating cases of child abuse in front of the Deputy Commissioner (DC) during a seminar held to create awareness about the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act held at the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) on Wednesday. The seminar was conducted by the Department of Social Security and Women and Child Development in collaboration with the Mohali district administration. At the seminar, experts from the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) and Panjab University (PU) expressed their views about the problems being faced by the victims and the problems in implementing the Act.

During the interactive session, a woman sub-inspector told the DC that whenever they take children for medical examination, doctors ask them to bring their own kits. She complained that the police cannot carry the kits, which is a problem the police face while investigating a case. DC Gurpreet Kaur Sapra directed Civil Surgeon Rita Bhardwaj, who was also present at the seminar, to resolve the problem, adding that the health officials who will henceforth ask the policemen to bring their own kits shall face consequences.

A woman school teacher, who was present at the seminar, raised the issue of drugs. She told the Director of Social Security and Development of Women and Children, Kavita Singh, DC and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kuldeep Singh Chahal that there are some shops near the government schools where the shopkeepers sell drugs which are also a reason of child abuse. She also raised the issue of hooliganism in Phase 3B2 and Phase 7 markets.

The SSP directed the DSP (City 1) to carry out checking in both the markets. Speaking on the occasion, Kavita Singh said the problem of child exploitation was not confined to any single house; rather it was a serious problem for society, which was a prime concern for all and to prevent that, everyone has to give it a serious thought. Moreover, it was a shame that incidents of a father raping his daughter were happening.